Over the weekend at Gillette Stadium, the Patriots and ESPNBoston.com put on a SportsCenter Patriots Draft Special hosted by ESPN's Michael Smith. The event featured a panel of former Patriots linebacker and current ESPN NFL analyst Tedy Bruschi, ESPNBoston.com Patriots beat writer Mike Reiss, ESPN draft guru Todd McShay and Patriots Football Weekly reporter Andy Hart.

The panel riffed on a number of topics, including what the Patriots might do with their glut of picks, which players they might be eyeing in the first round, what the team's biggest needs are and taking a few questions from the audience of Patriots fans.

Throughout the week leading up to Thursday's Round 1 of the NFL draft, we'll be featuring some clips from their debates in this blog and in other spots on ESPNBoston.com.

Above is the first clip from the series: A discussion on which draft class was the best in Patriots history. Reiss and Bruschi thought the 1973 group -- headlined by all-time greats John Hannah and Sam Cunningham -- was tops, but McShay made a convincing case for the 2010 class. Hart picked the 1995 class.

The panel also had a fun time debating the worst drafts in Patriots history (watch that video here), with all agreeing the 1997 class headlined by Chris Canty was the all-time worst.